TJ Woodruff ONLINE

I suppose that since I haven’t blogged much recently, the riding I did while in Colorado could be considered ’secret’. Spending a couple of weeks in Boulder was a great way to split the travel from Tucson to Wisconsin. There are so many mountain roads to explore that the rides seemed to go on and on. And that’s a very good thing. It felt really good to get into the riding groove again as for a while it seemed as if I was only racing and recovering. Getting back to big rides on consecutive days was just what I needed for the body and mind.

My CO stay ended with the Teva Mountain Games which once again proved to be a super fun weekend. There aren’t many races out there where cycling is part of a bigger festival, so it’s a nice change of pace and a good chance to see what ‘other’ people do. The huge prize checks made for some highly competitive racing which was a lot of fun. There were quite a few fans who hiked the mountainside to watch the xc, but this number was tiny compared to that of the other events. The World Cup climbing and kayaking competitions seemed to draw the most fans.

The XC was your standard slow motion altitude climbing race where it always seemed as if I should be going faster. But as soon as the effort is increased so is the fatigue since there’s not much oxygen available up there. This meant that nice and steady was the name of the game. I might have been one of the fastest sea level guys there so that’s got to count for something…

For the hill climb I was super pumped about the massive tailwind we would have. Last year we weren’t so fortunate so it was easy to take a big chunk of time off. I rode the flat part of the course conservatively so that I could let it rip once we started up Vail pass. This negative split seemed to work well as I turned in a pretty solid effort. No records were set on my part, but both the Men’s and Women’s winners set new course records.

Chloe blogs less than me these days so I’ll let you know that she had an awesome weekend, placing 5th in the xc and 3rd in the hill climb. She made some big payout and enjoyed the occasion. She even got to practice with some TT gear before really putting it to the test at the Nature Valley Grand Prix where she’ll be racing as part of a collegiate ‘all star’ team. This is an awesome way to experience the high level of women’s road stage racing. Six races in five days ought to be great.

Up next for me will be the Subaru Cup. I’m pumped to be back in Wisconsin and the thought of hitting up all the local stuff is exciting. It ought to be a good time as the local scene will be more hotly contested than ever this year. See you there,

-TJ

John and I made the drive up to Flagstaff Saturday morning so that we could get in a couple mountain bike rides. Flagstaff has all of the right ingredients - singletrack, dirt, trees, rocks, altitude, and views. None of which are in short supply and we even found a spot or two of snow to ride through. The terrain at 9000+ feet  is challenging physically and also technically, so it’s super easy to lose yourself in the moment. At one point I had to remind myself where I was and what month it is - such moments are the best therapy.  John and I used to ride mtb’s back in our Eau Claire days, but it was pretty cool to see him ripping the technical stuff out here. The guy’s got skill! I on the other hand felt a little out of sorts, but managed to hold my own for the most part.  It’s been a slower than ideal return to the bike after having the teeth pulled, but hopefully I’ll be full strength sometime soon now that I can eat again. As we pre rode the State Finals course Sunday I got a pretty good bonk going before slowly finishing out the course. John on the otherhand was still rockin’.

This Saturday is the Arizona Series Finals and the course will make for nothing short of an epic battle. It’s got a huge amount of climbing, but it’s also extremely technical so it’s going to take some serious skills to stay at the front. Hopefully I can be up there, but the locals will surely have their advantage.

Thanks to Steve for showing us some of Flag’s finest. Next update will be the race report. Stay tuned. -TJ

The BMC Team Elite came together nicely I’d say. 21 pounds and ready to accelerate - straight out of Switzerland!

This weekend’s stage race will be a good test of the legs and of the mind. Fontana was a mixed bag, so I’m excited for another shot this weekend. It all kicks off with a Super D (really its a TT, yet they call it Super D) this evening. With any luck I won’t get any spokes busted out of my wheel in the STXC Saturday and on Sunday it’ll be full on, all the time. The XC course at McDowell is relentless with little if any chance of recovery. Almost in a Chequamegon style you have to pedal all of the time…

More from the weekend. I’m off to the races, -TJ

It’s been getting warm down here lately. High temps have been in the 80’s which is great, but considering its only March it makes me scared of what July might be like… Perhaps the heat acclimation will give me some sort of advantage at the NMBS opener in Fontana, California this weekend. I’m excited to race and see how things go out there. It’ll be my first MTB race of the year so the nerves will likely be running a little extra. The Fourstroke is receiving some last minute attention as I finish up the ‘race build’ It looks as if it’ll be tipping the scale at 23.5 pounds. This is the heaviest bike I’ve raced in a long time, but hopefully the additional suspension will make for more speed on the course. Of course the NoTubes wheelset is superlight and that’s where the grams count the most anyways. I used to be more of a weight weenie, but now its not quite as much of an issue although I did weigh four tires at Arizona Cyclist before selecting two of them. I feel bad for the guy who is left to purchase the heavier ones of the same model!

There are only a couple of key part changes on the bike this year. The BMC Fourstroke offers 4″ of front and rear suspension travel. This is more than I’ve ever raced on before. The FOx F100RL is 20mm more travel than my last fork. I’ve also switched to Shimano XTR pedals instead of the Egg Beaters. The Shimano pedals have a more solid feel and don’t allow such excessive movement of the feet and knees. After using fixed cleats on my road bike I’ve learned the importance of piston-like pedaling and I might be better off without all of the free float of the Crank Brothers.  These are the only changes for this year’s ride so everything else should be business as usual.

Sunday Chloe and I got out for a solid 3.5 hour ride. Up Redington to the AZ trail and back down Milagrosa. I say it everytime, but I really love these trails and each time out there I’m riding them better. With plenty of technical challenges these trails are always calling out the A game. We even ran into a Gila Monster out there. It was moving pretty slowly and likely just woke up from a long winter’s rest. He wasn’t too happy about the camera so after a quick snapshot we let him be.

More to come from Fontana this weekend, -TJ

Since getting back to Tucson for New Years, it’s been a whirlwind of stuff going on. A head cold and a busy work week put a damper on the training, but this week looks more normal and I’m looking forward to some good rides. January’s climate is great for riding with long sleeve jerseys and knee warmers - some of my favorite weather to be out on the bike. A new wireless PowerTap wheel for the Team Machine will be a good way to build up the data collection and measure the progress as race season approaches. Riding stronger now than a year ago is the current trend. More to come with the training and race plans next time. It’s back to work for now,  -TJ

I’ve been out on the skinny skis loving every K the past two days. It’s been a couple years, but it all came back quickly and I’ve already got 70+ km. The legs and body are feeling good; it’s such a dichotomy between riding in Tucson amongst busy streets and skiing through serene forests. I really love skiing and the fresh corduroy is the equivalent of a vacant road or winding singletrack. I can’t get enough!

Timberland Hills

Headwaters of the Clam River

Blue Hills

See you on the birkie trails soon? -TJ

I made it up to the top of Mount Lemmon today. Above 9,000 feet it was cool with temps in the upper 30s. Even with the right gear the first half of the descent was quite chilly. The sight of Tucson so far below begs daunting thoughts of how long the ride back down will be - I always hit E on the descent, never while climbing. This was the first time that I’ve been up past the ski area and these last couple miles of climbing really are the hardest since the grade is quite a bit steeper than on the Catalina Hwy. Door to door the ride was just over five hours with 6000 feet climbing or so - definitely enough to have me feeling spent! I’ll be back for more of this ride, but not any time too soon… I had planned to ride to Summerhaven initially, but I ran into Andy Schultz who was descending as I was mid way up the mountain. He asked if I was going to the top and I said that I was before we parted ways. Motivation can come from many sources, but I knew Summerhaven wasn’t ‘the top’ so I had to do it right this time.

Thanksgiving was quiet but nice as Chloe, Brian and I did the Big Square ride mid day and followed it up with a full on Thanksgiving spread for dinner. Since Brian is a vegetarian, the Turkey was substituted with Tofurky. It tasted pretty good, and my real favorites of stuffing, cranberries, and potatoes made up for any lacking tradition without real Turkey. After a long ride, anything tastes good I suppose.

No CX races over the weekend made for a relaxing occasion. Saturday was spent getting the apartment really dialed in. I bought my first ever power tool, a drill, along with some masonry bits so that I could get some stuff hung from the walls. I also solved the bike storage situation with some ceiling hooks. The BMC’s make for some artsy decor for sure! It turned out as a good way to clear up space and showcase the bikes all at the same time. Now just a few things and the basement will be set too. And I found the bedskirt that matches my comforter finally after many attempts. Maybe this will keep the dust bunnies out from under there?

This weekend will be a double header with a AZ Cross race in Phoenix on Saturday followed by a Tucson CX race on Sunday. This ought to be a good tune up weekend before the State Championship which will be next Saturday. Hopefully the turnout is good once again this weekend. Rumor has it that there’ll be a UCI Cross race in Phoenix for 2008. That’ll be awesome if it all comes together. That’s all for now,  -TJ

Clean bikes = Happy bikes

Sunday was the first of many rides to come one from a beautiful quiver of BMC bikes.  BMC is the bike of choice in 2008 and I’m fortunate enough to get things going early for the remainder of 2007. Check out the ‘Garage’ for further specs and  bike setup information.

Chloe and I got out for an epic MTB ride yesterday, going for over 40 miles of adventure. We first climbed eight miles up Mount Lemmon before descending back down to Molino Basin. From there we climbed over the ridge and took the Bellota Trail all the way out to Redington Road which brought us back to our origin. This area is known for its rugged terrain and unforgiving nature. Bodies and bikes came out unscathed, though all gel and bar wrappers were emptied and hydration packs drained.  The Fourstroke was up for every challenge on the day and its 100mm of front and rear travel proved to be a good balance of nimble and efficient. With a playground so grand, what’s not to like?

Trailside entertainment is cheap

Spending the weekend in Tucson meant for some nice R&R and the chance to take in the Arizona versus UCLA homecoming football game.  Tailgating was fun and the packed stadium was exciting. It was a great break from the norm and a good chance to see what normal people do outside of ‘bike world’.

More to come as I build up two more BMC’s and get ready for some more ‘cross racing action. Thanks for stopping in,

TJ

Arizona is an incredible state for numerous reasons, and I just found the most recent while in Flagstaff this weekend. I did complete the Arizona State Road Race on Saturday, but coming off of my recent two-week off season, the results produced were neither spectacular, nor noteworthy. It made for a solid 76 miles of training however, and I avoided being the racer at the race who didn’t race. I hate being that guy…

Sunday was the real motivator for me to make the Flagstaff weekend. With the company of Chloe and Brian, along with our host Kevin, and friends Mel and Kyle, we set off for some spectacular riding into the thin alpine air.  Driving just four and a half hours from Tucson you find a different world at this elevation. The weather was pleasantly cool and fall-like. The leaves were changing on the trees and the traction of the dirt had that wonderful late-season feel beneath my tires. We climbed for an hour before descended the Cat Walk singletrack. Some more tough climbing was followed with even more exhilarating singletrack descending. This pattern was repeated for four hours and somehow each turn of the trail became more thrilling than the last. Perhaps it was the altitude, the onset of fatigue, the views, or likely the unique combination of the three that made this ride one of my favorites in recent history. Its hard to beat hypoxia in such a wonderful setting. I’ll surely be back for more weekend mountain bike adventures in Flagstaff.

I hope you’re enjoying the ride as I surely am, -TJ

After 15 days of zero training due to moving and then crashing I finally got back on the bike for a decent ride yesterday. My preference is to take 10-14 days off for a good fall transition, so at least I was close. Although, yesterday’s endurance paced ride of 1350 Kj nearly crushed me; this spring I was doing more than twice that amount on back to back to back days. I suppose it’ll take a week or so for the body to get back into things and a couple months before the consecutive days roll right off…
Cyclocross will be next on the agenda as there’s a Tucson Series of five races this year and also a four race series in Phoenix. Last year things were quite low key with the three race Tucson series. I won the two I entered on my full suspension Litespeed Sewanee. I’d like to do the same this year, but hopefully it’ll be harder to do so with more guys showing up and going for it. A weekly ‘cross practice ought to allow me to get the skills sharpened (or at least roughed in) as I’m sure they’ll be horrible to start off with. If you’re in Tucson and would like to join in, check out MomentumEndurance.com for the ‘cross practice details. Just as Craig and I did in Eau Claire, I went to Home Depot yesterday and fifteen minutes later walked out carrying two ready to go portable barriers. They are simple to tote over to the park and they set up even easier.They are of course, the regulation height of 40cm. We’ll see what the turnout is for cyclocross practice and perhaps I’ll start mass producing these things.

That’s the scoop. It’s been hot, but not scolding with highs in the 85-90 degree range lately. My knee is still bandaged but healing quite nicely. Being able to get around has been a relief. Keeping it Real,

TJ